Focuses on the academic decision making of several female African Americans in a rural southern (primarily African-American) town by considering their personal school experiences and their interpretations of the value of education in their community contexts. Preliminary findings show many contradictions between educational beliefs and actual…

Interviews with four African-American recent high school students in a predominantly black rural North Carolina town focus on the individual's perceptions of society with regard to definitions and decisions about education. It is evident that school is regarded differently by those who graduate and those who drop out. (SLD)